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SOME  OF  THE  EARLY  METHODS  OF 

COLLECTING,  STORING  AND 

DISTRIBUTING  WATER. 


BY 


WILLIAM  R.  HILL 


SOME  OF  THE  EARLY  METHODS  OF 

COLLECTING,  STORING  AND 

DISTRIBUTING  WATER. 


Read  before  the  American  Water  Works  Association, 
at  Buffalo,  N.  Y.,  June  i4th,  1898. 


BY 


WILLIAM  R.  HILL, 


Civil  Engineer,  Syracuse,  N.  Y. 


SYRACUSE,  N.  Y.: 

E.   M.   GROVER,   PRINTER  AND   BINDER, 
1898. 


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Water  is  in  many  respects  the  most  important  sub- 
stance in  the  world.  It  covers  the  greater  part  of  the 
earth's  surface,  permeates  its  interior,  and  is  the  substance 
of  the  clouds  above  us.  In  the  early  ages  it  was  venerated 
as  a  substance  of  which  all  things  in  creation  were  sup- 
posed to  be  made.  Hence,  wells,  fountains  and  rivers  were 
worshipped  and  religious  feasts  and  ceremonies  were 
established  in  honor  of  them  or  of  the  holy  spirits  that 
were  believed  to  be  hovering  over  them.  The  ancient 
Syracusans  held  great  annual  festivals  at  the  fountain  of 
Arethusa  and  sacrificed  black  bulls  to  Pluto  at  the  foun- 
tain of  Cyane.  The  ancient  Romans  celebrated  the  "Festi- 
val of  Fontanalia,"  when  wells  and  fountains  were  adorned 
with  flowers  and  w^reaths  were  cast  upon  the  running 
streams.  The  early  Egyptians  worshipped  the  River  Nile 
as  the  God  of  Fertility  and  Abundance,  and  to  that  deity 
they  made  human  sacrifices.  As  late  as  in  the  twelfth 
century  the  custom  of  worshipping  water  was  so  general 
that  kings  and  bishops  issued  regulations  strict!  v  forbid- 
ding it.  Our  ancient  fathers  worshipped  water  because 
they  knew  that  it  is  the  world's  great  natural  stimulant 
and  the  first  necessity  of  their  lives.  Without  it  all  vege- 
tation would  perish,  the  earth  would  be  shorn  of  its  beauty 
and  would  become  one  vast  burning  desert.  There  would 
be  no  clouds  in  the  heavens  to  protect  man  from  the 
scorching  rays  of  the  sun  and  his  existence  would  be  im- 
possible. 

Before  attempting  to  review  any  of  man's  work  in  the 
art  of  collecting,  storing  and  distributing  water,  it  would 
be  well  humbly  to  bow  to  our  Creator  and  acknowledge 
that  all  human  contrivances  are  but  faint  imitations  of 


M186310 


nature's  most  wonderful  and  magnificent  machinery.  We 
find  nature  performing  the  duties  of  an  immense  hydraulic 
engine,  requiring  neither  wheels,  nor  cranks,  nor  rods,  nor 
pistons,  continually  converting  water  into  vapor  and 
pumping  it  into  the  atmosphere.  In  the  night  the  dew 
gently  settles  over  the  surface  of  the  earth  and  gives  a 
sweet  and  refreshing  drink  to  all  the  vegetable  kingdom. 
At  the  dawn  of  day  the  sun's  rays  burst  forth  and  silently 
and  invisibly  pump  the  water  in  perfect  purity  up  to  the 
distributing  reservoirs,  the  clouds  in  the  heavens,  which 
are  grand  and  beautiful  in  their  formation,  presenting  the 
appearance  of  gigantic  mountains  crowned  with  snow, 
tinted  with  gold  and  silver,  and  emblematic  of  purity  in 
their  whiteness.  At  other  times  they  present  an  angry 
aspect.  They  cast  dark  shadows  over  the  earth  and  seem 
to  be  engaged  in  a  great  conflict,  cannonading  each  other 
with  electric  fire,  accompanied  by  vivid  flashes  of  light  fol- 
lowed by  the  loud  reports  of  the  discharge  of  their  artillery. 
The  winds  distribute  them  in  the  heavens  and  affected  by 
the  temperature  they  fall  in  the  form  of  rain,  hail  and  snow- 
to  refresh  the  earth,  to  give  drink  to  man,  to  give  life  to 
vegetation,  and  to  form  streams,  lakes  and  rivers,  the 
natural  conduits  that  convey  the  water  to  the  great  stor- 
age reservoir,  the  ocean. 

The  subterranean  boiler's  water  is  heated  by  Pluto's 
blue  sulphur  flames,  generating  steam  and  producing  power 
to  operate  nature's  marvelous  pumping  machinery  which 
discharges  water  from  the  bowels  of  the  earth  with  a 
pressure  sufficient  to  produce  nature's  amazing  fountains, 
the  geysers. 

Water  is  purified  by  passing  through  natural  filter 
beds,  the  subterranean  strata  of  sand  and  gravel,  and 
leading  therefrom  we  find  small  service  pipes  conveying 
the  clear,  cold  and  sparkling  water  to  nature's  fonts,  the 


springs.  Every  tree  and  every  plant  is  performing  the 
services  of  a  pump  drawing  up  the  water  from  the  ground 
through  their  tubes  to  the  top  of  the  highest  tree  in  the 
forest,  even  to  the  end  of  the  smallest  blade  of  grass  in  the 
meadow. 

In  constructing  water  works,  man  also  imitates  his 
own  vascular  system.  The  heart  of  every  human  being  is 
a  pump,  the  arteries  are  force  mains,  and  the  veins  are  suc- 
tion pipes.  At  every  contraction  of  the  heart  the  fluid  is 
conveyed  through  the  force  mains  to  the  extremities  of  the 
system  ;  at  every  expansion  the  fluid  is  drawn  to  the  pump 
through  the  suction  pipes.  The  duty  of  this  pump,  its 
strokes  per  miuute,  is  indicated  by  the  pulsations  in  the 
force  main.  In  the  vigor  of  vouth,  when  the  machinery  is 
new,  the  strokes  are  strong  and  regular.  When  affected 
by  the  wear  of  old  age  they  become  weak  and  irregular, 
and  at  last  when  the  pump  fails  to  perform  its  duty  the 
hydraulic  system  in  man  is  ruined  and,  like  apiece  of  worn- 
out  machinery,  his  days  of  activity  cease  forever. 

There  can  be  scarcely  a  doubt  that  man  first  emploved 
his  skill  in  the  art  of  procuring  water.  In  the  primeval 
ages  he  undoubtedly  imitated  the  lower  animals  and  lying 
on  the  ground  drank  directly  from  the  running  streams, 
and  when  it  became  inconvenient  to  reach  the  water  in 
that  manner,  he  then  used  the  first  vessel,  which  was  the 
hollow  of  his  hand. 

The  earliest  work  was  perhaps  the  construction  of 
wells.  These  at  first  were  shallow,  with  steps  or  inclina- 
tions leading  down  to  the  water  so  that  it  could  be  reached 
with  the  hand.  When  the  wells  were  made  deeper  several 
methods  of  lifting  the  water  from  them  were  employed, 
such  as  in  vessels,  by  cords,  chains,  poles,  pulleys,  wind- 
lasses, treadmills,  capstans  and  sw.apes,  and  by  chains  of 
pots,  wheels,  screws,  chain  pumps  and  numerous  other 


8 

devices.  In  southern  India  water  was  obtained  from  wells 
by  means  of  a  vessel  called  a  "  mot."  It  was  made  of  an 
entire  ox-hide,  bound  on  a  wooden  ring  to  form  an  open- 
ing. It  was  raised  by  animal  power  by  a  cord  on  a  pulley 
fixed  over  the  well. 


The  ancient  inhabitants  of  the  island  of  Aradus  (now 
called  Ruad)  obtained  their  water  supply  from  a  spring  in 
the  bottom  of  the  Mediterranean  Sea  at  a  depth  of  about 
eighty-five  feet.  The  island  is  about  three-quarters  of  a 
mile  in  circumference  and  is  situated  about  two  and  one- 
half  miles  off  the  coast  of  the  southern  portion  of  Turkey 
in  Asia.  In  ancient  times  it  was  very  populous.  The 
water  was  obtained  by  sinking  over  the  spring  a  wide- 
mouthed  funnel  of  lead  to  which  was  attached  a  long  pipe 
of  leather.  The  water  was  discharged  in  vessels  in  boats 
and  conveyed  to  the  city.  This  spring  is  known  as  "Abra- 
ham's Fountain."  It  is  located  between  the  island  and 
the  mainland.  The  inhabitants  of  modern  Ruad  still  tap 
it  in  the  ancient  fashion. 

Hezekiah,  King  of  Judah,  who  reigned  in  the  years 
688  to  717  B.  C.,  was  a  pioneer  in  constructing  a  system 
of  water  works,  bringing  water  into  the  city  of  Jerusalem. 
In  the  Holy  Book  we  read:  "He  made  the  pool  and  the 


9 

conduit  and  brought  the  water  into  the  city,  stopping  the 
upper  part  of  Gihon,  and  bringing  it  straight  by  an  under- 
ground way."  "He  stopped  the  upper  water  course  of 
Gihon  and  brought  it  straight  down  to  the  west  side  of  the 
city  of  David,  and  Hezekiah  prospered  in  all  his  works." 
From  the  "Pools  of  Solomon,"  near  Bethlehem,  water  was 
conveyed  to  Jerusalem,  a  distance  of  six  or  seven  miles, 
through  a  conduit  of  earthern  pipe  about  ten  inches  in 
diameter.  The  pipe  was  encased  within  two  stones  hewn 
out  to  fit  it,  then  covered  over  with  rough  stone  cemented 
together. 

The  remains  of  aqueducts  in  many  parts  of  the  world 
give  evidence  that  the  ancients  were  well  provided  with 
water.  The  supply  was  generally  discharged  into  foun- 
tains placed  in  different  parts  of  the  cities  and  then  con- 
veyed by  the  water-carriers  to  the  dwellings  or  to  wherever 
it  was  to  be  used.  The  aqueducts  of  the  Greeks  were  open 
or  subterranean  channels.  They  apparently  never  con- 
structed any  aqueduct  bridges,  hence  they  left  no  con- 
spicuous monuments  of  their  works.  They  were  unlike  the 
Romans,  who  performed  work  with  a  disdain  to  obstacles, 
building  immense  structures  of  masonry  to  conduct  water 
across  deep  valleys.  Many  of  the  bridges  still  existing, 
though  in  ruins,  excite  our  admiration  and  astonishment. 

In  the  year  312  B.  C.  water  was  for  the  first  time  con- 
veyed to  Rome  from  a  distance.  At  that  time  Appius 
Claudius  the  Censor  constructed  the  Aqua  Appia  aqueduct 
from  the  Alban  Mountains,  a  distance  of  eleven  miles. 
The  channel  was  underground  the  entire  distance  with  the 
exception  of  about  100  yards.  In  the  first  century,  at  the 
time  of  Emperor  Nero,  Rome  was  supplied  with  water  by 
nine  aqueducts,  the  aggregate  length  of  which  was  255 
miles,  with  a  capacity  of  over  200,000,000  gallons  per 
day.  After  the  construction  of  other  aqueducts  the  capac- 


10 

ity  was  increased  to  about  375,000,000  gallons  per  day. 
At  the  time  of  Constantine  there  were  in  Rome  926  public 
baths,  247  reservoirs  and  1,212  public  fountains.  Many 
of  the  fountains  were  rich  in  works  of  art  and  were  of  a 
monumental  character,  and  were  dedicated  to  some  god 
who  was  supposed  to  keep  the  water  pure  and  undefiled. 

France  had  many  notable  aqueducts.  In  the  first 
century,  in  the  time  of  Emperor  Claudius  Caesar,  there  was 
constructed  a  conduit  from  Mount  Pila  to  Lyons.  It 
crossed  thirteen  valleys  on  aqueducts  and  three  valleys  by 
inverted  syphons.  The  first  syphon  was  laid  in  a  valley 
about  2,600  feet  wide  and  217  feet  deep.  The  second  in  a 
valley  3,458  feet  wide  and  325  feet  deep.  The  third  was 
of  considerably  less  importance. 

The  water  was  admitted  on  the  upper  side  of  the  first 
syphon  into  a  reservoir  of  masonry,  in  the  walls  of  which 
were  inserted,  at  about  ten  inches  from  the  floor,  nine  lead 
pipes  eight  and  three-quarter  inches  in  diameter  and  one  and 
one-twelfth  inches  in  thickness.  These  pipes  were  carried 
down  the  side  of  the  valley  on  a  species  of  substructure, 
arched  in  some  places  so  as  to  preserve  a  regular  inclina- 
tion ;  they  were  of  the  same  diameter  as  at  the  commence- 
ment for  a  distance  of  eighty-one  feet,  and  they  then  each 
divided  into  two  pipes  of  six  inches  diameter.  The  eighteen 
smaller  pipes  were  continued  to  the  bottom  of  the  syphon  ; 
but  instead  of  descending  quite  to  the  lowest  part  of  the 
valley  they  were  carried  across  an  irregular  depression  of 
the  latter  on  an  aqueduct  of  about  eighty  feet  maximum 
height,  so  that  in  fact  the  descending  limb  of  the  syphon 
was  only  about  164  feet  in  vertical  height  and  the  ascend- 
ing limb  was  about  142  feet.  Midway  in  the  ascending 
limb  the  two  six-inch  pipes  were  reunited  into  nine-inch 
ones,  and  the  latter  poured  the  waters  they  conveyed  into 
a  small  reservoir  corresponding  with  the  one  on  the  de- 


13 

scending  side.  The  descending  limb  of  the  second  syphon 
was  282  feet. 

The  famous  Bridge  of  Maintenon  which  was  con- 
structed in  the  seventeenth  century,  during  the  reign  of 
Louis  XIV.,  to  convey  water  to  Versailles  is,  without 
doubt,  in  point  of  magnitude  and  height,  the  most  mag- 
nificent structure  of  the  kind  in  the  world.  The  bridge 
was  about  4,400  feet  long  and  over  200 feet  high.  It  con- 
sisted of  three  tiers  of  arches,  one  above  the  other,  of  fifty- 
foot  spans. 

On  the  29th  day  of  September,  1613,  water  was  for 
the  first  time  conveyed  to  London  from  a  distance.  An 
open  channel  about  eighteen  feet  wide  and  five  feet  deep 
was  constructed  from  various  springs  near  Ware  and  Am- 
well  to  the  metropolis.  Although  the  distance  in  a  straight 
line  was  not  more  than  twenty  miles,  yet  the  conduit  by 
its  circuitous  route  was  forty  miles  in  length.  This  length 
was  preferred  in  order  to  obtain  a  fall  of  three  inches  per 
mile  throughout  its  entire  course.  Later  on  the  channel 
was  shortened  to  a  length  of  twenty-eight  miles.  The 
valleys  were  in  most  cases  crossed  by  timber  aqueducts, 
the  water  ways  on  which  were  lined  with  lead.  These 
timber  aqueducts  were  replaced  with  embankments  about 
the  year  1785. 

The  canal  that  supplies  the  City  of  Marseilles  with 
water  was  constructed  during  the  years  1839  to  1847.  It 
is  among  the  boldest  undertakings  of  the  kind  in  Europe 
in  modern  days.  It  has  a  capacity  of  285, 000, 000  gallons 
per  day.  The  water  isconveyed  about  sixty  miles  through 
forty-five  tunnels  of  an  aggregate  length  of  eight  and  one- 
half  miles,  and  across  many  valleys  by  aqueducts,  the 
largest  of  which,  that  over  the  ravine  of  the  River  Arc,  is 
1,287  feet  long  and  262  feet  high. 

In  the  northwestern  part  of  Arabia  there  is  a  well 


14 


which  the  Arabs  claim  to  be  the  work  of  pre-Islamatic 
times.  It  is  five  feet  in  diameter  at  the  top  and  gradually 
enlarging  until  it  reaches  the  water  at  a  depth  of  nearly 
200  feet.  It  is  lined  with  hewn  stone  throughout.  How- 
ever, the  most  remarkable  well  in  the  world  is  Joseph's 
Well  at  Cairo,  Egypt.  Its  shaft  was  excavated  through 
solid  rock  to  a  depth  of  165  feet,  at  which  depth  it  was  en- 
larged on  one  side  to  form  a  chamber,  in  the  bottom  of 
which  a  reservoir  was  made  immediately  under  the  shaft. 
At  ojne  side  of  this  reservoir  another  shaft  was  excavated 
through  rock  to  abed  of  gravel  where  water  was  found. 


The  lower  shaft  was  130  feet  deep,  making  the  total  depth 
295  feet.  The  upper  shaft  was  rectangular,  twenty-four 
by  eighteen  feet.  The  lower  shaft  was  fifteen  by  nine  feet. 
Winding  around  the  well  a  spiral  passageway  six  feet 
four  inches  wide  by  seven  feet  two  inches  high  was  cut 
with  great  care  from  the  surface  of  the  ground  down  to 
the  chamber.  Between  the  well  and  the  passageway  a 
wall  of  rock  was  left.  Horses  and  oxen  descended  the 


15 

passageway  to  the  chamber  where  they  propelled  machin- 
ery to  raise  the  water  in  pots  attached  to  a  chain  from  the 
lower  shaft  to  the  reservoir  in  the  chamber,,  whence  it  was 
again  raised  by  machinery  operated  by  power  on  the  sur- 
face. In  the  lower  shaft  a  path  was  cut  in  its  sides  so  that 
a  descent  could  be  made  to  the  water.  There  was  no  wall 
between  the  path  and  the  well.  This  work  is  said  to  have 
been  constructed  by  Saladin,  who  lived  in  the  years  1137 
to  1193.  Some  writers  do  not  mention  this  and  say  that 
the  date  of  the  construction  is  lost  in  antiquity. 

Through  small  holes  bored  in  the  ground  water  is  often 
raised  above  the  surface  by  natural  hydrostatic  pressure. 
In  Europe  thismodeof  obtaining  water  wasfirst  practised 
in  the  French  province  of  Artois,  anciently  called  Artesium, 
hence  the  name  artesian  is  derived.  At  Aire,  in  that 
province,  there  is  a  well  from  which  the  water  has  con- 
tinued to  flow  steadily  to  a  height  of  eleven  feet  above  the 
ground  for  more  than  a  century.  There  is  a  flowing  ar- 
tesian well  within  the  old  Carthusian  convent  at  Lillers 
that  has  been  in  steady  operation  since  the  year  1126. 
Unmistakable  traces  of  much  more  ancient  bored  wells 
appear  in  Asia  Minor,  Persia,  China,  Egypt,  and  even  in 
the  great  desert  of  Sahara.  At  Grenello,  in  the  vicinity  of 
Paris,  there  is  an  artesian  well  which  is  1,798  feet  deep. 
It  discharges  water  at  the  rate  of  about  850,000  gallons 
per  day  and  at  a  temperature  of  82°  Fahr.  The  boring  of 
this  well  commenced  in  the  year  1834  and  was  completed 
in  the  year  1841.  Previous  to  the  latter  date  no  well  had 
reached  a  depth  of  1,000  feet.  The  well  at  Passy,  near 
Paris,  is  1,923  feet  deep.  At  its  bottom  it  is  two  feet  and 
four  inches  in  diameter.  It  throws  a  continuous  stream  of 
water,  at  the  rate  of  about  5,500,000  gallons  per  day,  to 
a  height  of  about  fifty  feet  above  the  ground.  At  Bourne, 
England,  there  is  an  artesian  well  ninety-five  feet  deep 


16 

which  yields  over  half  a  million  gallons  per  day,  with  a 
pressure  sufficient  to  supphr  the  town  and  to  force  the 
water  to  the  tops  of  the  highest  houses. 

The  older  cities  of  Germany  were  the  first  to  use  pumps 
to  raise  water  for  public  purposes.  There  they  were  quite 
commonly  used  in  the  year  1550,  operated  by  water- 
wheels.  We  have  no  information  in  detail  of  their  con- 
struction. Pumping  engines  were  first  used  in  London  in 
the  year  1582.  Water  was  raised  from  the  Thames  river 
to  an  elevation  of  120  feet  by  sixteen  force  pumps.  The 
pumps  were  operated  by  two  undershot  water-wheels 
placed  under  the  arches  of  the  London  Bridge  The  wheels 
were  twenty  feet  in  diameter  and  were  turned  by  the  cur- 
rent during  the  rise  and  fall  of  the  tide.  When  the  water 
flowed  rapidly  the  wheels  made  six  revolutions  per  minute. 
The  plungers  of  the  pump  were  seven  inches  in  diameter 
and  had  a  stroke  of  thirty  inches,  and  for  every  revolution 
of  the  wheels  they  made  two  and  one-fifth  strokes.  The 
pumps  had  a  total  capacity  of  2,500,000  gallons  per  day. 
About  the  year  1757  one  of  Newcomen's  steam  engines 
was  erected  to  raise  the  water  at  ebbtide  when  the  wrater- 
wheels  were  not  in  operation.  A  water  company,  incor- 
porated in  London  in  the  year  1691  to  supply  water  from 
the  Thames  river,  used  a  Newcomen's  engine  but  soon  laid 
it  aside  and  worked  their  pumps  by  horses.  In  earlier 
days  the  supply  was  obtained  by  the  City  Company  of 
Water  Bearers,  who  brought  water  from  the  adjacent 
rivers  in  leather  panniers  slung  on  the  backs  of  horses. 

The  atmospheric  or  sucking  pump  was  invented  in  the 
year  1641.  It  was  a  mystery  at  that  time  why  the  pump 
would  not  raise  the  water  higher  than  thirty-two  or  thirty- 
three  feet.  Two  years  later  Torricelli  discovered  that  the 
water  was  raised  in  the  barrel  of  the  pump  by  air  pressure 
on  the  surface  of  the  water. 


17 

The  most  complicated  machinery  ever  constructed  for 
raising  water  was  erected  and  set  in  operation  at  Marli, 
near  Paris,  in  the  year  1682.  The  pumps  were  divided 
into  three  groups.  The  first  set  contained  sixty-four  suck- 
ing and  forcing  pumps,  raising  the  water  160  feet  directly 
from  the  Seine  river,  through  an  iron  pipe,  to  a  cistern  600 
feet  from  the  river.  The  second  set,  seventy-nine  pumps, 
were  placed  at  this  cistern  and  raised  the  water  185  feet 
to  a  second  cistern  1 ,344  feet  from  the  first.  The  third  set, 
eighty-two  pumps,  were  placed  at  the  second  cistern  and 
raised  the  water  188  feet  in  a  distance  of  about  2,000  feet 
to  a  reservoir.  Therefore,  the  water  was  raised  533  feet 
in  a  distance  of  nearly  4,000  feet. 

The  pumps  were  operated  by  water  power  from  the 
Seine  river,  which  was  divided  into  fourteen  distinct  water 
courses,  in  each  of  which  an  undershot  wheel  was  erected. 
The  first  set  of  pumps  was  operated  by  six  wheels,  while 
the  remaining  wheels  transmitted  power  to  vibrating 
levers  and  through  these  to  the  piston  rods  of  the  second 
and  third  set  of  pumps.  Therefore,  the  upper  set  of  pumps 
was  stationed  345  feet  above  and  1,944  feet  distant  from 
the  power  that  operated  them. 

The  feasibility  of  raising  the  water  directly  from  the 
river  to  the  reservoir  was  demonstrated  by  an  attempt 
made  in  1738,  but  owing  to  the  inability  of  the  machine 
to  stand  the  strain  they  were  operated  as  before  until  the 
year  1775,  when  a  trial  was  made  to  dispense  with  the 
first  cistern  but  the  pipes  burst  and  the  old  plan  was  re- 
sorted to  until  Napoleon  ordered  a  steam  engine  of  sixty- 
four  horse  power  to  replace  the  water-wheels.  Conse- 
quently these  pumps  were  in  use  and  operated  by  water 
power  for  a  period  of  at  least  100  years.  The  hammering, 
rattling  and  creaking  noise  of  the  working  of  this  machin- 
ery has  been  described  as  something  hideous.  It  would  be 


18 

well  to  note  the  advancement  made  in  the  method  of 
transmitting  power  in  the  last  two  hundred  years  by  com- 
paring the  operating  of  these  pumps  with  the  noiseless 
and  invisible  movement  of  transmitting  power  by  elec- 
tricity. 

The  first  water  works  of  Philadelphia,  Pa.,  were  put 
into  operation  January  27,  1801.  An  engine  was  placed 
at  the  corner  of  Schuykill,  Front  and  Chestnut  streets. 
The  water  was  pumped  from  the  Schuykill  river  into  a 
brick  aqueduct  which  was  six  feet  in  diameter  and  3,144 
feet  long,  leading  to  the  Center  Square  engine-house  at  the 
crossing  of  Broad  and  Market  streets.  Here  another  en- 
gine pumped  the  water  into  two  wooden  tanks  set  in  the 
top  of  the  building  fifty  feet  above  the  bottom  of  the  brick 
tunnel.  The  tanks  were  ten  and  fourteen  feet  in  diameter 
and  twelve  feet  deep.  The  engine  could  not  fill  them  in 
less  than  twenty-five  minutes.  The  pumps  were  double- 
acting  force  pumps.  They  were  made  of  wood  and  lined 
with  sheet  copper  to  prevent  leakage.  The  steam  cylinder 
of  the  Central  Square  engine  was  cast  in  two  pieces,  united 
by  copper.  The  joint  was  secured  by  a  cast  iron  sleeve 
eighteen  inches  wide.  The  cylinder  was  thirty-six  inches 
in  diameter  and  six  feet  six  inches  long.  Nearly  four  months 
wrere  spent  in  boring  it.  The  steam  boilers  were  made  of 
five-inch  white  pine  plank.  They  were  boxes  nine  feet  high, 
nine  feet  wide  and  fifteen  feet  long.  They  were  securely 
bolted  and  braced.  Inside  of  each  was  a  wrought  iron 
fire-box  with  vertical  cast  iron  flues.  The  lever-beams, 
shafts,  fly-wheels,  etc.,  were  also  made  of  wood.  The  water 
was  distributed  through  the  city  in  pipes  of  bored  logs  six 
inches  and  four  and  one-half  inches  in  diameter.  Construc- 
tion of  the  works  commenced  in  the  year  1799. 

In  contrast  with  these  early  contrivances  it  is  interest- 
ing to  note  that  there  is  perhaps  no  engine  in  the  world 


19 

which  has  a  capacity  equal  to  that  of  the  pumping  engine 
"  Michigan,"  which  was  built  from  designs  of  Mr.  E.  D, 
Leavitt.  It  has  a  capacity  of  60,000,000  gallons  in 
twenty-four  hours  against  an  average  head  of  fifty-one 
feet.  It  is  located  at  the  Calumet  and  Hecla  Stamp  Mills, 
Lake  Linden,  Michigan.  It  was  constructed  and  erected 
by  the  T.  P.  Morris  Company  in  the  year  1891. 

The  first  person  who  is  known  to  have  raised  water  by 
a  water  ram  was  Mr.  Whitehurst,  of  Derby,  England,  in 
1772.  He  conveyed  water  through  a  one  and  a  half-inch 
pipe  a  distance  of  about  600  feet  with  a  fall  of  sixteen  feet 
to  furnish  water  directly  to  the  lower  part  of  a  building. 
When  a  faucet  in  the  building  was  opened  the  water  in  the 
pipe  was  set  in  motion  and  as  soon  as  the  faucet  was 
closed  the  momentum  of  the  long  column  of  water  opened 
the  check  valve  and  part  of  the  water  after  passing 
through  an  air  chamber  rushed  up  a  vertical  pipe  higher 
than  the  spring  to  a  tank  in  the  upper  part  of  the  building. 
This  effect  took  place  every  time  the  faucet  was  opened  and 
closed.  The  self-acting  water  ram  was  invented  by  a 
Frenchman  in  the  year  1796.  By  using  two  or  more  rams 
and  connecting  their  ascension  tubes  into  one,  water  has 
been  raised  at  Marly,  in  France,  to  a  height  of  187  feet. 

The  origin  of  the  syphon  is  lost  in  antiquity.  It  was, 
however,  used  in  Egypt  as  early  at  least  as  1450  years  be- 
fore Christ.  In  the  tomb  of  Amunoph  II.,  who  reigned  in 
that  period,  there  is  a  delineation  which  represents  the 
syphon  apparently  in  operation  drawing  liquid  from  one 
vessel  to  another.  A  syphon  of  extraordinary  size  was 
built  for  the  Quindaro  water  supply  of  Kansas  City.  It 
leads  from  the  intake  crib  to  the  pump  wells,  a  distance  of 
745  feet.  It  is  forty-two  inches  in  diameter ;  its  rise  is  ten 
feet  above  low  water,  and  its  capacity  is  about  50,000,000 
gallons  per  day. 


20 

A  conduit  discovered  near  Patara  was  formed  of  stone 
blocks  about  three  feet  square,  through  which  a  tube  about 
thirteen  inches  in  diameter  was  cut.  On  one  end  of  each 
block  there  was  a  projection  which  fitted  into  a  recess 
three  inches  deep  in  the  face  of  the  adjoining  stone,  forming 
a  socket  and  spigot  joint  which  was  filled  with  cement. 
The  blocks  were  secured  together  by  iron  clamps  run  with 
lead.  The  date  of  the  construction  of  this  conduit  is  lost. 

Great  and  important  advances  in  the  science  of  en- 
gineering in  the  methods  of  distributing  water  have  been 
made  through  the  manufacture  of  pipes.  The  ancients,  so 
far  as  we  know,  made  only  a  limited  use  of  pipe.  Although 
the  Romans  carried  their  systems  to  a  high  degree  of  per- 
fection, they  preferred  brick  or  stone  conduits  to  lead  pipe, 
which  was  the  only  metal  conduit  they  had  at  their  dis- 
posal, excepting  a  bronze  pipe  which  was  difficult  to  manu- 
facture. These  lead  pipes  were  made  in  lengths  of  ten  feet 
by  bending  sheet  lead  upon  a  cylindrical  form  and  solder- 
ing the  edges.  Thus  they  were  ill-adapted  for  the  convey- 
ance of  water  under  pressure.  Earthenware  pipes  were 
also  used.  Some  were  made  to  screw  into  each  other. 
Most  of  the  great  houses  or  palaces  were  supplied  with 
water  which  flowed  constantly  into  basins  of  stone  or 
marble.  Water  was  rarely  carried  by  pipes  to  the  upper 
stories.  A  lead  pipe  of  great  antiquity  was  recently  found 
under  the  street  in  Rome.  The  pipe  was  not  less  than  two 
feet  in  diameter.  It  was  re-enforced  in  ancient  brick 
masonry. 

A  conduit  with  an  inverted  syphon  of  cast  iron  pipe 
was  constructed  in  the  year  1782  to  supply  Genoa  with 
water.  I  have  been  unable  to  find  any  record  of  cast  iron 
pipe  having  been  used  prior  to  this  date.  Pipes  formed  of 
stone  artificially  hollowed  out  were  laid  down  in  consider- 
able quantity  in  London  and  in  Manchester  in  the  early 


21 

«* 

part  of  the  present  century.  The  result  in  each  case  was 
a  disastrous  failure. 

In  the  early  days  of  London's  water  supply  the  dis- 
tributing mains  were  made  of  bored  trunks  of  elm  trees, 
and  in  most  cases  they  were  six  or  seven  inches  in  diameter. 
Owing  to  their  small  capacity  it  was  necessary  in  many 
cases  to  lay  additional  lines.  In  the  year  1810  there  were 
nine  lines  laid  side  by  side  in  one  street.  At  the  end  of  the 
last  century  they  commenced  to  use  cast  iron  pipe.  About 
twenty  miles  of  wooden  pipe  were  removed  annually  until 
the  year  1820,  when  all  the  mains  of  the  New  River  Water 
Company,  about  400  miles,  were  replaced  by  others  of 
iron,  of  diameters  from  one  to  three  feet.  The  cast  iron 
pipes  were  screwed  together  at  the  joints.  This  prevented 
their  free  expansion  and  contraction,  and  often  caused 
them  to  be  broken  by  the  varied  temperature  of  the  water, 
rendering  them  very  defective  in  the  winter  season.  Cylin- 
drical socket  joints  were  then  introduced.  They  were 
accurately  turned  in  a  lathe.  No  stuffing  was  used  other 
than  a  little  whiting  and  tallow.  The  pipes  were  driven 
up  in  the  joints.  They  were  made  in  lengths  of  nine  feet. 
The  service  connections  were  made  by  flanged  joints  cast 
with  the  pipe. 

Until  about  the  year  1850,  or  a  little  later,  London 
and  many  of  the  principal  cities  and  towns  in  England 
were  supplied  by  the  intermittent  method,  the  water  being 
turned  on  and  off  in  the  mains  once  or  twice  a  day,  or  once 
in  two  or  three  days,  as  the  case  may  have  been,  to  fill 
tanks  in  the  houses.  Liverpool  had  an  intermittent  sup- 
ply until  the  year  1873. 

The  first  improvement  on  the  ancient  method  of  mak- 
ing lead  pipe  was  in  the  year  1539  in  England.  It  was 
then  cast  in  an  upright  position  in  short  lengths.  The 
lengths  were  united  in  a  mould  by  pouring  hot  metal  over 


22 

the  ends  until  they  were  run  together.  Later  on  lead  pipes 
were  made  by  casting  them  in  moulds  laid  in  a  horizontal 
position.  After  a  short  piece  was  cast  it  was  almost  en- 
tirely drawn  from  the  mould.  The  mould  was  then  refilled 
with  hot  metal  which  fused  with  the  first  piece  and  in- 
creased its  length.  It  was  then  partly  withdrawn  and 
more  metal  poured,  increasing  the  length  as  before,  and  so 
on  until  the  pipe  was  made  the  required  length.  The  pres- 
ent method  of  making  lead  pipe  was  patented  in  England 
in  the  year  1820. 

The  process  of  making  wrought  iron  tubes  was  in- 
vented and  patented  in  England  in  the  year  1824.  These 
have  been  extensively  used  as  service  pipes,  but  in  many 
cases,  owing  to  the  nature  of  the  water,  they  have  soon 
corroded  and  leaked.  In  other  cases  oxidation  and  in- 
crustations have  seriously  diminished  the  capacity  of  the 
pipes.  Many  experiments  of  coating  the  pipe  have  been 
made  from  time  to  time  with  view  of  preventing  its  deteri- 
oration. The  most  durable  and  effective  coating  appears 
to  be  a  lead  lining.  The  lead  lined  iron  pipe  was  first  made 
about  ten  years  ago.  The  method  of  making  it  is  as  fol- 
lows: A  reamer  is  run  through  the  iron  pipe  making  it 
smooth  and  true.  It  is  then  heated.  The  outer  surface  of 
the  lead  pipe  is  covered  with  a  cement  and  then  drawn  in  to 
the  iron  pipe,  followed  by  an  expander  which  runs  through 
the  pipe  its  entire  length.  Wrought  iron  pipes  are  lined 
with  tin  in  the  same  manner. 

The  water  meter  was  first  patented  in  England  in  the 
year  1825,  and  in  America  in  the  year  1848.  Where  it  is 
used  it  restrains  a  great  wastage  of  water.  Many  cities 
have  erroneously  demanded  an  unnecessarily  large  supply 
of  water  and  have  unduly  increased  their  works  by  build- 
ing reservoirs,  conduits,  pumping  stations,  etc.,  while,  if 
all  their  services  were  metered,  they  would  find  that  the 


23 

supply  first  available  would  serve  a  population  two 
and  three  times  as  large.  The  meter  is  a  great  economizer. 
It  saves  many  thousands  of  dollars  in  the  cost  of  pump- 
ing. It  is  an  honest  arbitrator  between  the  supplier  and 
consumer,  and  it  is  a  better  inspector  than  the  most  com- 
petent man. 

In  conclusion,  it  is  my  hope  that  this  and  future  gen- 
erations may  enjoy  many  improvements  in  the  art  of  col- 
lecting, storing  and  distributing  that  beverage  which  is 
provided  by  our  Creator  to  cherish  and  invigorate  his 
creatures  and  to  beautify  the  world. 


14  DAY  USE 

RETURN  TO  DESK  FROM  WHICH  BORROWED 

LOAN  DEPT. 

RENEWALS  ONLY— TEL.  NO.  642-3405 
This  book  is  due  on  the  last  date  stamped  below,  or 

on  the  date  to  which  renewed. 
Renewed  books  are  subject  to  immediate  recall. 


1870 
REC'D  LD  FEE 


1972  2  8 

ID    DEC 


v   72  -1 


LD21A-60m-6,'69 
(J9096slO)476-A-32 


General  Library 

University  of  California 

Berkeley 


M186310 

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